Lie Again

The Revelation

"What the hell did you say to him?" Ziva demanded as soon as Tony answered his phone.

"Excuse me?" he asked, well aware of what she was referring to.

"What did you say to Ray?"

"I didn't-"

"Do not play dumb with me. I know you threatened him. Why the hell would you do that?"

Uh, because he hated Ray's guts? Because he didn't trust the guy, never had? Because Ray was 't the right guy for her?

"I don't know," he muttered instead. Telling her the truth would probably only push her further away. Unless he could dig up something on Ray, something that would make her see why he wasn't the right guy for her...

But would she listen to him even then? Or would she cut off all ties and never speak to him again?

Was it even worth getting rid of Ray?

Would it maybe just be better to keep a close eye on Ray and let Ziva be happy for a little while?

"Tony, are you even listening to me?"

Oops. "Yes, sorry. I spilled my coffee. Had to clean it up before the stain set."

He could almost hear her roll her eyes. "I do not want you to talk to Ray unless I am there. He is under the impression you have it out for him, and from what he told me, I would have to agree."

"I don't have it out for him," he said, trying to sound like it was all just a big joke.

"I am serious, Tony."

"So am I."

"Stay away from him."

Was she actually comparing this to the Michael incident?

"Okay."

"If I hear about anything else, you will be sorry. Do not make me have to show you how sorry."

Wow. Ziva was making her own threats. And to him. This wasn't a first, of course, but she'd never really been serious about it until now...

He took a mental step back. "Sorry. You're right. I crossed a line. It won't happen again." He would just have to be more careful.

***

What was it with him and crossing lines lately? It seemed like she had to rebuke him every single day.

Ziva carefully set her phone on the bedside table. "You should not have to worry about him doing that again," she sighed.

Ray nodded slightly. "You didn't have to do that. I can handle DiNozzo."

"That does not matter. He should not need to be handled. He knows better." He should know better.

"It's fine."

"It is not fine." She set her steely gaze on him. "We already have enough to deal with. You have more than enough on your plate, without Tony acting like a child."

He didn't have anything to say to that, and she took it to mean she got her point across.

***

"You need to leave it alone." Abby squeezed Bert to her chest and the stuffed hippo let out a loud fart.

"I can't. Something is wrong. I know it."

"Like a Gibbs gut-feeling?"

"Yeah, sure."

Almost as if she knew he needed someone to talk to, Abby had shown up at Tony's apartment nearly an hour ago with a six pack of beer.

She squinted at him. "You don't get those. Only Gibbs gets those."

"Then why did you ask?"

She shrugged.

Honestly, drunk Abby wasn't so great at listening and providing helpful insights.

Then again, drunk Tony wasn't so great at telling his side without sounding completely crazy.

"I just get a really bad feeling whenever Ray is around her. Like sonething really bad is going to happen. I can't let anything happen to Ziva."

"She isn't your responsibility. She's with Ray. She loves him and he loves her. Nothing bad is going to happen unless you keep pushing her buttons." That was probably the truest thing she'd said so far.

"But-"

"No buts." She held out Bert. "Hug him. You'll feel better."

He really doubted that but didn't want to hurt her feelings by refusing. So he took Bert and gave him a squeeze.

"Better?" Abby asked.

"No."

"Try again."

He obliged but rolled his eyes, too. "Still not better."

"Well, why not?"

He wasn't quite drunk enough to confess everything. So he shrugged.

And she pinched him.

"Ow!" he said, hopping off his chair to get away from her. "What was that for?"

"Tell me! I drove all the way over here, so you'd better spill everything, Tony DiNozzo!"

She handed him another beer, perhaps sensing he needed some more alcohol in him.

"We have to work tomorrow," he said, a last-ditch attempt to resist.

But Abby was insistent.

They sat down on the couch and stared at the potted plant on his coffee table.

"Spill," she repeated.

He sighed. "I don't want her to marry Ray."

"Why not? They're happy together."

"But it's Ray."

"So you're being weird because it's Ray?"

He shrugged.

"So if any other guy had proposed to her, you're saying you would be acting a little less weird?"

"No. I mean, yes."

Crud. He slipped up.

Abby's jaw dropped but she didn't say anything immediately, and Tony's heart rate sped up as he waited for her to say something.

"You love her," she managed finally.

"Of course I do. She's my partner. She's my friend."

"No, no, no. You love her."

Did he?

His heart screamed yes, but his brain tried to reason that he loved her in a purely friendly way. He couldn't love her. She was his partner.

But that would explain why he didn't like Ray spending all that time with her, why he felt like he was choking every time he saw them together, why he wanted to be the one making her laugh.

"I love her," he whispered.

*****

A little shorter today, but I felt that was a good place to leave it.

Let me tell you, as a die-hard Tiva fan, this is getting super hard to write. I can't even begin to tell you how badly I want to change the ending to this story. But I said I was going to explore the Ziva/Ray storyline, so I must soldier on.    Maybe I'll just have to write an alternate ending for us, hahahaha.   On the upside, this should probably make it super easy to write Tony's POV. Well, not easy. Idk.

Okay, well, thanks for sticking around!

Don't forget to vote, comment, and/or follow!

If this chapter gets a lot of feedback I will post another chapter within the next day or two so y'all don't have to wait a week to see what happens. Let that be an incentive to hit the star!